Nintendo Attempts To Explain Why Its Digital Games Aren’t Cheaper Than Retail

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has tried to explain to investors why its digital offering aren’t cheaper than fully fledged retail copies. Iwata says that as the content is exactly the same as what is offered in a retail version of a game then there should be no reduction taken into account. Iwata says that he ultimately doesn’t want to devalue software.

“Although the mainstream idea regarding the digital business in the industry before we actually started selling software in both digital and packaged formats last year was that the digital version should or must be priced lower than its packaged counterpart, we decided that, since the contents are the same, the company would offer the software at the same price, be it the packaged version or the digital version. This is because we want consumers to value software as highly as possible and because we have been trying to heighten the value of our software whenever we produce it.”

Yes but they make more off of digital because they dont spend money on production. The argument use to be that production and transportation factor a lot with the price (SNES Cartridges) but now thats theres no cost in transporting and manufacturing they dont factor price in it? Bullshit

It’s worse than that. If you look into the cost of production of the physical media, shipping and retailer mark-up then you get a drastically over inflated price point. The best way I can think of putting it is that Runic Games (the people who made torchlight) said that for them, they make the same amount of money selling a game on steam for 20$ as they do selling a game through publishers and retailers at 60$

Yeah, but physical get a scratch and you sr are scrubbed, digital can be downloaded anytime, and actually have that stored in a server for years just for U to get it as many times as u need, is a good reason to charge the same

if they drop the price of theirs digital games then retailers should have to drop price too to make sales and then they will make less money selling nintendo games and stop selling nintendo gamesa and then who is going to sell nintendo consoles if they loss retailers support. sry for the broken english.

He’s stupidly complaining about the console being region/system locked to keep piracy to a minimum which is understandable in a degree. If he doesn’t like digital, then buy the physical. Simple. Nintendo is wise to offer both and at the same price is sensible because you’re paying for the same game with the same value no matter how you look at it. Booklets and stuff is meaningless. You got the Internet as your game guide so whatever.

It just goes to show how much interest in the product there is – for all you complainers, waaaa, waaaa, waaaa, it should be cheaper!!! Obviously you want the product, Nintendo makes great products, so pay for it. OR DON’T BUY IT, but shut up about it needing to be cheaper!

Another way of looking at it, think about 1995. Millions of NES cartridges were being thrown out weekly. No wanted the old tech, (some people but not many). Then 10 years later, there was a resurgence. But if you wanted the game again, you had to buy it again. With a digital download, YOU NEVER HEAVE TO BUY IT AGAIN!!! There are benefits of both types of purchases!

Its kinda of a funky statement, but really i don’t care i buy physical copies. Plus who buys digital copy on a nintendo system when they hasn’t established a damn account system which they need to freakin make. Also the data takes away to much memory for me when i download a whole game like pokemon or wonderful 101. Rather have physical copy the digital on any system. Only time i buy digital is during the steam sales, but even then i don’t buy that many

Before everyone starts to jump on Nintendo’s back here, just think about how well it would go down with retailers like Amazon, gamestop and bestbuy etc if Nintendo were constantly undercutting them with digital releases…

who cares? They are two different products. The retailers are providing a physical copy a customer can go home, unwrap, display, and resell. Nintendo is offering just a game. This is just another way companies are beyond greedy. This might be the dumbest thing Iwata has said and he really should have put more thought into it.

That is unreasonable. The cost of distributing a game over the internet, vs packaging it with a disk, case, and manual, shipping costs to the stores and all that is night and day. He can claim all day long that you’re getting the same value, however, the cost vs price ratio and cost vs profit ratio are not the same. They could lower the price of a digital game by $5, and very, very likely still make a larger profit on it, than the actual boxed copy. No doubt about it. This is purely a decision based on profit, not “value”. If they want the value of both to be the same, then the profits/consumer costs should ALSO be identical. It’s called having your cake and eating it too.

They do the same thing with older games.. they hardly ever drop the prices, and barely do the old Sony “greatest hits” thing.

When you buy the physical copy of a game, you get all of those things for free.

Nintendo charges the same money for the same experience. It’s only a bonus for buying the box and disc. I prefer digital, but the price is still fair. $60 for a $60 game. If I wanted a physical version, I would just buy one. Digital is an option, not forced, so pick one and don’t complain.

I feel like we’re on the same page here – it’s like people are complaining that they are being “forced” to buy the game. Unless I am mistaken here, it’s a business trying to make money. No is is forcing anyone to buy anything!

I don’t, and sorry to the downloaders but I’ll always be physical so I don’t care about this scenario AT ALL. I would hate to see physical disappear even though it’s heading in that direction. Going to the store, getting the box, opening it, smelling that new plastic smell, flipping through the instruction book, waiting anxiously to get home to pop it in your system and stay up all night, THAT’S part of gaming tradition!!!!!

Exactly! I love looking at the box art and seeing my collection of games growing on my book shelves! It feels more like collecting when you get the physical versions vs. “owning” the downloadable versions.

If digital games are cheaper than more people will buy digital than retail and Nintendo doesnt want that because that will hurt game stores. It´s called politics people, use your brains before you attack Nintendo.

You mean the same stores that basically steal from developers (game stores that sell use copies) or the stores like KMART, Shopco, or Wallmart that dont focus solely on gaming? Stop trying to find light in Iwatas retarded response. This wont only help Nintendo but the developers as well.

1-with the size of the incoming TRIPLE AAA BLOCKBUSTER MOVIES i mean GAMES, 500Gigs of ram should work for about 12 AAA games, more or less, also PS4 doesn’t support external drives so, if you want to increase its storage size, get ready to spend at least another 100 bucks for a hdd, also xbox 1 will not support external at launch and internal will be probably propetary

2- they never said that, the said their focus is different, also iwata also stated that the wii u is not as underpowered as they think

3-i actually i like they respect their studios and developers and producers designs, see what happened to Bioware and all the companies bought by EA huh?

4-they can’t piss off the retailers chains, it would be stupid

5. you are just a cheap trol lol nothing lese, you will throw shit everywhere you cant, and only you troll belive your shitty shit

No offense “you thought” but that 32gb is starting to get old….ignoring that 32gb Wii U’s were sold over 38K in Japan last week. Which proves they didn’t not buy Wii U because it didn’t have 32GB, they waited to now because it didn’t have games and the bundle. Yet you rather play dumb as if that didn’t just happen.

No offense taken :] but really im not impressed with that. Its just one week. What happens if next week it only sells like 5k then the hype was for nothing. If it sells like that for the 4 weeks then I will be impressed

It does make sense and it is in essence the right message, however, digital games DO NOT and probably never will take into account the fact that retailers never sell at the RRP, as they will always find a way to undercut their rivals.

Retailers devalue software and as for trade-ins, well they pretty much devalue them also. Buy a brand new game today and trade it in the very same afternoon…you will get nowhere near what you just paid for it.

Sony actually sells digital Vita games $5 cheaper than retail. Also, Sony constantly update their Digital prices to reflect the current retail price, e.g. Ni No Kuni (PS3 game), it is now $20 on retail stores and they cut the digital price to $20 also.

If physical copies cost the same as digital, then why get digital? Plus Nintendo will get a lot more money from a digital sale, so even a small price cut will give a bigger reason for people to buy online, we get a lower price, and Nintendo get a bigger cut. Honestly, this pricing system as it is mainly just helps the retailers.

I feel if you JUST look at the situation as “Obviously digital should be priced less than retail, because it costs less to produce,” then you are only evaluating ONE aspect of the issue. The major picture is not just dealing with prices and value it also deals with the stepping stone into the digital era. Nintendo and many of it’s fans do not want to lose retail copies of games, so to prevent that from happening it is NECESSARY to price digital as the same as retail.

Exactly, Nintendo has a lot of old school gamers, microsoft and sony have them too, but everyone started with Nintendo if you are old school (or Sega) and most people from that era as I stated earlier enjoy their physical copies, and we aren’t willing to get rid of them if we can help it.

This is just stupid. Physical games are way more valuable. You get a physical disc, case, books, and cover art. Not only that, but you can sell it or lend it out. A digital game will be tied to the system you downloaded it onto, since Nintendo have not yet implimented a unified account system. Plus, they don’t have to pay distributing and manufacturing fees with digital games like they do with physical games. Iwata, stop trying to scam us. We’re not idiots, we know what’s up. Digital games SHOULD be cheaper.

I don’t think digital games should be significantly cheaper to the point where most people will go for a digital copy of the game instead of the physical version. That would probably mean physical gamea would die out altogether, and that would be a shame. But I think a $5 reduction from digital games is totally reasonable and justified.

This is ridiculous! I don’t “value” a game any less because I paid less for it. I also don’t value a game more because I paid more money for fit. I o ly buy something if the price meets or is lower than the personal value I out on it.
This is the very reason I don’t purchase digital games over retail. I “value” digital less and there for won’t pay the same for it as something I “value” more, which is the ability to sell trade and borrow a game. As well as the collecting aspect of owning a physical copy.

So why won’t the journalist prove themselves right. If the Wii U is so weak, prove it, Ac4 videos are available on alllll consoles. Do a fucking comparison. Come shut me up!!! It’s weak right? Now your chance prove it. Show me some visuals of PS4 VS. WII U now. You did PS3 and PS4 and we already know PS4 is supposed to look better. Some come on cowards, prove me wrong. I demand a AC4 comparison of Wii U vs PS4 VS XBONE. Show the world it’s weak other than just word of mouth.

im not even trolling, this is just talking facts. nintendo is dirt cheap and are money whores. this shouldnt even be explained and you can try to say whatever bullshit that will come out of your corrupted drone mind.

Dude. The mass market doesn’t even CARE about this. From region locking all the way to used game overpricing, the masses are 100% complacent to all these things. They just do what makes enjoying games easier. There’s a reason Gamestop still makes money even though every person I’ve spoken to on the internet boycotts. And BTW, because of the Wii U Deluxe promotion, you’re technically getting a 10% on EVERYTHING in the Wii U eShop.

I do agree though that the reason Iwata gives is silly. I think the reason Nintendo does this is because of retailers. Nintendo is pushing for digital sales but they know that they’re still gonna need retailers for a LONG time. The mass market is still hooked on retail and retailers make more money selling games than systems. Nintendo can’t sell their hardware without retailers like Walmart and Gamestop so they’re gonna keep the field level for the time being.

Errm, no Nintendo.
You save all your money from packaging, and production, and you get solid profit from it.

And the problem is….i can buy them physically for way cheaper. £50 isn’t the standard price, unless you buy from asshole like GAME. The price most people are used to is £30-40, sometimes cheaper, sometimes a little more.
Granted you’re not a bad as EA and Ubisoft. Fucking £60-70 digital download? Fuck offz

It really doesn’t bother me I almost never buy digital.Until nintendo makes a proper account system like psn it won’t be a big deal to me, but when they do they need to fix that problem. Plus digital games take too much memory for me so i don’t get them forone of many reasons why i don’t buy digital. But even if nintendo makes account system i won’t buy digital if they offer a retail version

Ignoring that there’re plenty of other resources available: carpooling, taking a bus or waiting for nasty weather to die down if U’re really that desperate to buy video games. U can also shop online&every 1 of those options would save U loads more cash.

See that the Wii U haters won’t put no Ac4 comparison to PS4 and Wii U because they know it will show that Wii U is more powerful than the credit it was given. Will I answered my own question. Put it is way. Some people refuse to believe in God because they never seen him. So I don’t believe the Wii U is weak until I SEE A COMPARISION OF THE SAME GAME ON PS4 AND XBONE. When I see that which is watch dogs, COD GHOST, AC4 AND THE DEVLOPERS put just as much motivation into Wii U as the PS4 and it is still a noticeable to see PS4 looks better, then I DON’T WONT TO HEAR SHIT. I need an honest developer who won’t cheat Wii U just to make it LOOK LIKE IT’S WEAK!!!

I don’t claim to know, but my best guess’d be that they probably didn’t have enough funds to release it for next gen consoles&previous ones&/or they didn’t think the profit gained would be worth a release, unless U link me to an article stating otherwise.

I opened up two windows on youtube. One Wii U’s version of Assassin’s creed 4 the other ps4’s version. How according to a spec sheet, the Wii U’s graphcis ain’t no where near far away from the 8 core console. But they didn’t won’t that being said that’s why they never did a video comparison.

To tell you the truth, I can’t even tell the difference when I had to open up TWO windows because the hating journalist didn’t won’t to do a video comparison. Talking about because it’s no contest. Yet waste time comparing PS4/XBONE VERSION TO ps3 and 360.

This is a bogus argument made by Nintendo. Digital games should be cheaper, because Nintendo is bypassing the supply chain network, bypassing fees that are normally apportioned to retailers, bypassing shipping, handling and packaging costs. Digital games should be $5 to $15 cheaper, from an economic perspective.

at the very least they should be as cheap as retail… i can understand that nintendo doesn’t want to constantly undercut retailers with their pricing.. but that’s no reason not to offer the titles at the same prices as retailers do.. most new (and also old) titles are 10-20€ cheaper when i buy them retail

I am very disagree with Mr. Iwata’s statement. I think that we know that the value of the game is same. But what makes differences between physical and digital copy are packaging, delivery, and inventory cost. Therefore, the digital price should be cheaper than physical price. I think that $5 cheaper for digital copy is reasonable and sustainable both for Nintendo and retail store.

Mr Iwata once again made no sense at all. He doesn’t tell the real reason, that if they sell it cheaper then retail wil be hurt, and for a succesful console you need good relationship with retail. Retail however wll definitely cease to exist in the future, steambox will be completely retail free and they will still be able to sell their consoles in worst way shipping to people individually. Actually if all games were digital it would be much better, just look at steal sales, triple A titles sometimes for 5 bucks

from a business point of view it makes sense. you don’t want to alienate your reseller in fact you want them to be happy. Also by doing on digital format Nintendo go much more revenue (at the end of the day they have a business to run). On that basis I completely understand and agree with his strategy furthermore I would go as far as saying it’s fair and it’s a choice the customer have to/can make. It’s not like it’s impose to you like the DLC business where in some case you have to buy the end of a game or special bonus which is taking into account in your achievement.

For me as a consumer it does not make sense and I would found more value for money to have a physical copy rather a digital but again I have a choice. If you are lazy and cannot be asked to go and get your physical copy then go digital but don’t hope for a discount cause at the end of the day running several servers with lot of storage and high availability does not come cheap, the money to pay for it has to come from somewhere.

Nintendo isnt explaining to INVESTORS. INVESTORS love that Nintendo charges the same price. It’s dumbass sony/ms fantards that do not understand why software that to their complete economical ineptitude isn’t worth anything is being charged for at all.

The number of illogical cheap idiots keep coming in myriads. Yes, the retail price includes shipping, packaging, etc. Do you guys seriously think it’s 100% free to put digital copies? They are selling you the right to the game’s license. Meaning you can reclaim your copy as many times as you want in case your copy corrupts, damages, etc. EXTREMELY convenient. Want to buy a game at 3am but your local gamestop is closed? NO PROBLEM! They never freaking close their website! Have gratitude! PLUS, streaming onto a database is absolutely not free. They have to pay to keep the host website alive AND pay to stream the license for download 24/7. Not only that, but they have to pay their workers to get the license available, keep it available, and also have to pay workers for their security system to make sure the digital copy doesn’t get hacked or compromised. Not to mention, you don’t even have to leave your house in order to get the game. You save gas and/or time. And your time has value too.

To summarize what I said for the ignorant people who don’t want to read or admit they are wrong, HERE’S WHY DIGITAL COPIES COST THE SAME
1. The cost includes CONVENIENCE FEES
2. No need to waste your time TRAVELLING to get the game.
3. You have the right to the LICENSE at anytime after purchase.
4. You can REDOWNLOAD as much as you want.
5. They have to PAY EMPLOYEES to make sure your data or license DOESN’T GET COMPROMISED.
6. Streaming the digital game in a digital library IS NOT FREE AT ALL.
7. The VALUE of the games will DECREASE if they lower the price.

Do you guys seriously think digital copies is cheaper for them? In many instances, digital games can actually be more expensive! But you freaking greedy people are too hardheaded to fathom that. Stop being cheap and be grateful that they’ve made games conveniently available for you all.

No one even complains that the retail copy of Minecraft wasn’t more expensive than the digital copy. But what about packaging and manuals and booklets and plastic and all those other ignorant arguments? Now all of a sudden, they are irrelevant. Why? Because you people just try to look for excuses to not pay full price.